NRA’s Keene: Cuomo Will Find Himself Unelectable Nationally

The National Rifle Association President David Keene told reporters at today’s pro-gun rights rally in Albany that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s strong push for January’s gun conrol law will hinder his chances at national office.

“Andrew Cuomo is a fellow who thinks he ought to be president,” Keene told reporters in a scrum after speaking at the rally. “Now he’s not the only politician who thinks he ought to be president, but what he’s doing is the mirror image of what Republicans seeking the presidency were doing in the last cycle. What he’s doing is seeking measures that would appeal to a very small segment of the left wing of the Democratic base. And if he gets that far, he’s going to find himself the most unelectedable person nationally.”

The rally of several thousand is the third and the largest anti-gun control rally since the measure was passed.

Cuomo had pushed hard to make New York the first state in the nation to pass a new gun control law since the Connecticut school shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 elementary school children.

Keene called the passage of the law “outrageous” in part by the speed with which it was pushed through the Legislature. Gun-rights advocates have seized on the message of necessity that waived the three-day aging process for bills as a end-run around public debate (Cuomo’s office counters by noting that he’s issued fewer messages of necessity than any of his immediate predecessors).

“I think New York has become the poster child for how not to adopt legislation,” Keene said. “As we know the governor designed this in the dark of night, rammed it through the Legislature and then everybody said oh my God what did we pass? You had the police up in arms, everybody else up in arms That is not the way to pass legislation in a deliberative democracy.”

Keene met with Vice President Joe Biden in Washington over the federal effort to pass a gun control law, but says he wouldn’t want to speak to Cuomo, who is downstate today.

This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on February 28, 2013 at 2:18 pm, and is filed under Andrew Cuomo. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Berkshire_Boy

Uh, huh. That’s what they said about marriage equality too. Times change Mr. Keene and you, sir are on the wrong side of history as well. If Andrew Cuomo is not electable nationally, this will not be the reason. So don’t flatter yourself.